Different kind of spirits: Ghost hunters to investigate Atwater brewery — and make an ale

The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy received a $50,000 grant as part of Gannett’s “A Community Thrives” (ACT) initiative. The proposed Atwater Beach project will help extend the Detroit Riverwalk.
Mandi Wright/Detroit Free Press

Paranormal investigators aim to find out this weekend when they bring cameras, voice recorders and other equipment to the brewery inside an old church in Grosse Pointe Park. They'll also be making a special beer steeped with sage to be released next month — on Friday the 13th.

They hope to capture the strange shadows, voices and other unexplained activity that has some of the brewery's employees leery of going in the basement.

"Being that it’s a place built in the early '30s, it's possible that it is haunted, even though this a church," said Jeff Adkins, co-founder and lead investigator of Detroit Paranormal Expeditions.

Adkins and the group's other founder, Todd Bonner, reached out to the brewery a couple of months ago to inquire about creating a paranormal-themed beer. After talking with brewer Brad Etheridge and learning about the strange phenomena at the brewery, the idea for the brew and investigation was born.

On Friday, the brewery will be open regular business hours. Members of Detroit Paranormal Expeditions will help Etheridge make a saison, or a light farmhouse ale that originated in the French-speaking part of Belgium, called Hello from the Other Side. Etheridge developed the recipe, which includes sage.

"In the paranormal field, sage is often used to rid a place of paranormal activity," Adkins said.

The ale will be released during a special party at the brewery on Friday, April 13. Also available that night will be VooDoo Vator, a strong, dark German lager, and Hearthside Ghost, an American stout made with ghost peppers.

This Friday, after the investigators are done making the beer and the brewery closes at midnight, they'll get to work setting up cameras in the basement, main bar area and elsewhere.

"We will ask questions, try to get interactions and will have a voice recorder there," Adkins said. "A lot of times, we get voices or responses on the voice recorders that we didn't hear in the moment."

The church's cornerstone was laid in 1936. The building was once home to Grace United Church, according to the brewery's website.

People heard strange noises while the church was being transformed into the brewery. Atwater in the Park opened in 2014, and a priest came out to bless the place soon afterward.

"We always look at it as better safe than sorry," said brewery owner Mark Rieth. There are two other Atwater locations, one in Detroit and the other in Grand Rapids.

Some employees hate going in the basement, where four fermenters, liquor and various supplies are kept. The basement once was a nursery school.

"Down in the basement, I definitely heard voices, like conversations," bartender Gary Elson said. "It sounds like children having a conversation. There’s other employees here who won't even go in the basement by themselves. ...

"There was another time in the dining room, there were like five shadows standing right in the center of the dining room that followed me around. Then they followed me to the front door, and all of the sudden, the kitchen lights were flickering on and off. I got out of there so fast." Elson, who has worked at the brewery for about three years, said he doesn't think the spirits are harmful — they're just curious.

"People sometimes generally think of ghosts as being unhappy or angry," Adkins said. "That’s not always the case. We've encountered spirits that are happy and are at a place (because) they chose to stay there."

Elson said with a chuckle that he hopes the investigators encounter and capture paranormal activity, "so people don’t think I'm crazy."